


Pneuma

by aj_linguistik



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga), ソードアート・オンライン - 川原礫 | Sword Art Online - Kawahara Reki
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Beauty and the Beast Elements, F/M, Florists, Random Prompt Challenge, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:13:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26016319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aj_linguistik/pseuds/aj_linguistik
Summary: Yuuna is a budding florist who prioritizes customer satisfaction and low prices. After all, the greatest part of selling flowers is seeing the smiles on people's faces. She's happy with her little shop, and with her cheerful employees (for the most part).One day, her supplier offers her the seeds of a rare flower that costs quite a lot of money. She decides to indulge herself and keep it in the window of the shop as a personal touch, nothing more nothing less. But little does she know that this flower has a magical property not known to regular humans- it can prevent a werewolf from turning at the full moon if it's properly mixed into an edible medium. So when a mysterious man comes in saying he'll pay any price to have her supply him regularly with the flowers, Yuuna has a choice to make: break her number one rule...or negotiate to make this customer smile.
Relationships: Nochizawa Eiji | Nautilus | Eiji/Shigemura Yuuna | Yuna
Kudos: 12





	1. A Rare Find

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: To start off with, this is for a prompt challenge posed by BlackRoseMii in my SAO Fanworks Discord server. We filled up a list of different AUs and used a randomizer to roll two AUs for each of us to combine. And I will admit- this was a hard combo not just because the two AUs were difficult to combine, but also because I know VERY LITTLE about werewolves! So, keeping that in mind, I'm taking some tips from more knowledgeable people and I'm also trying to keep my own creative flair here! 
> 
> NOW! I'm going to defintely credit the love of my life, mon cher disasterbiKirto, for helping me brainstorm back and forth for...hours. I picked a pairing that I feel needs more love in this fandom and I hope that as this progresses, you enjoy the ride of Florist x Werewolf, the fanfic.

It was, in short, the most beautiful flower she’d ever laid eyes on.

Months ago, during a shopping trip to update and add to her inventory, Shigemura Yuuna had stumbled across a rare seed packet. The seller had demanded quite a high price for the seeds, saying that the flower was almost extinct. When she’d willingly paid full price for the seeds, her source, a clever merchant and kind man by the name of Andrew Gilbert Mills, had asked her why she held such an interest in them. Her eyes sparkled with excitement as she held the packet of seeds in her palm.

“If there’s a chance I can see this flower before it’s gone extinct, I’ll take it,” she insisted. “As a florist, nothing would bring me more joy than to see it bloom before it’s gone from the world forever.”

Mills couldn’t argue that sort of logic. She was driven by her heart and her passion for flowers. She’d had the means, she’d paid the price, and now, after months of careful attention to her new plant, she’d witnessed it blooming. The petals were white and fragile-looking, but when they passed under the light of the moon, they glowed faintly. The color of that glow changed based on the phase of the moon; a new moon gave off a blue glow, a crescent moon gave off a pale yellow glow, a gibbous moon gave off a red glow, and a full moon gave off a purple glow. This discovery had been by accident. She’d entered into the shop to retrieve something she’d left, and she’d seen the petals glowing as the moonlight shone down on it.

At first, she couldn’t bear the thought of selling it. Something this rare likely required the heavy price tag, and that went against her own personal policy. Yuuna sold her flowers from a shop she’d started all on her own. She’d worked for years to find a balance between affordable and making a living. Her worries of the two being contradictory wound up for naught; her flower shop attracted all sorts of customers, and they were all very pleased with her selections and arrangements. With her prices being so “reasonable,” she very well couldn’t sell the flower marked up the way it was.

So, the flower took its place on a windowsill near the front of the store. Its beauty was on display for the customers who ventured in during the day, and it warmly greeted passers-by during the night. Even as she stared at it now while she watered it, she felt like the flower stood for something greater than herself. Its beauty and mystery filled her with a sense of wonder. She reached down and caressed the leaves of the flower.

“Does that flower have a name?”

Yuuna turned around and smiled at a young man with flaxen hair and glittering green eyes. He was someone who had been her employee for only a short while, but his eagerness to learn about the flowers and master his position made hiring him an easy choice. She’d been hesitant at first, since the employee who had referred him was none other than his boyfriend. She was surprised at how little their relationship interfered with their work, and she was pleased with everything the two young men did for her store.

“I’m sorry?” she said. “Which flower, Eugeo?”

He pointed his finger at the flower she was watering.

“This one,” he said. “There aren’t any others like it in the shop. Kirito told me lots of names of flowers, but he didn’t mention this one.”

Kirigaya Kazuto, otherwise known by his nickname “Kirito,” was the boyfriend who’d referred Eugeo as an employee. He’d requested that he be the one to train Eugeo. Yuuna hadn’t been sure about that, either, but she allowed it so long as there were no incidents. Kirito’s knowledge of the shop was fairly decent, after all. She glanced back down at the flower and found herself chuckling. With all of his experience, Kirito still wouldn’t know the name of the flower. She set down the sprayer and turned to face the blooming plant.

“My supplier called it the pneuma flower,” she said.

Eugeo tilted his head and leaned on the broom in his hands.

“That’s an interesting name for a flower,” he said. “In Stoic thought, the word pneuma refers to the vital spirit or creative force a person has.”

Yuuna frowned.

“Vital spirit?” she repeated.

Eugeo smiled.

“In other words, the soul,” he clarified. “Sorry, I recently took a philosophy course. But it makes me wonder who named the flower that and why.”

Shrugging, Yuuna turned and handed Eugeo the sprayer bottle she’d just been using. He got the picture. Enough chit-chat when there were things to be watered and cleaned. She smiled as he hurried off to take care of the orchids. For now, she would handle the front while Kirito practiced his arrangements. The door chimed. She twirled around to greet her customer.

He was a man with short light brown hair and dark eyes, who was of average height. His eyes looked tired and slightly downcast. An athletic jacket with a high collar was tightly zipped up around his torso. He walked with his hands thrust into his pockets. Yuuna walked over to him as he stopped in front of the freshly watered pneuma flower and smiled at him.

“Welcome to Una!” she said, putting on her best customer service voice. “Is there anything I can help you with, or are you just browsing?”

The man pulled a hand out of his pocket and scratched the back of his head. He was staring down at the pneuma flower with a frown on his lips. She glanced between the flower and the customer. He drew in a breath.

“It’s not for sale, is it?” he asked.

She did her best to look apologetic.

“No, I’m afraid not,” she said. “I’ve only got the one, so I don’t know that I’ll incorporate it into a bouquet. If it were a bit cheaper, I think I’d love to make arrangements with it. It’s the most beautiful flower I’ve ever seen.”

He scratched his head even more.

“How much could I offer to convince you to regularly sell them to me?” he asked.

Yuuna blinked up at him.

“I’m sorry?” she said.

His request was beyond reasonable. She couldn’t ask that much of a customer, no matter how desperate they were to get their hands on the flower. Her instincts told her to say no and suggest the closest flower she could find for him, but she stopped when she gazed into his eyes. There rested desperation in its truest form. The man was convinced he needed this flower.

“What is this flower to you, sir?” she asked. “I know it’s none of my business, but you wish to have them regularly available for you? These aren’t cheap. And they’re quite rare.”

He nodded, clearly aware of this.

“Money is no object,” he said. “Not when it comes to that flower, anyways.”

He kept his eyes on the flower, gazing at it like a starving man hungering for a bite to eat. He clearly wouldn’t be candid with her; she would have to trust that when he said he would pay any price for it, he meant that. His hand stopped scratching his neck. He clutched the base of it and clenched his teeth just a bit.

“I don’t want to explain,” he said, “but I’ve been searching for a long time for that flower. It’s urgent.”

She swallowed, and then she walked over to it and plucked out some of the seeds from the bag beside the pot. She had a few left over; enough, she figured, to try and start a small patch of them growing to use for her inventory.

“So, if I can grow enough to keep a steady supply of them for you,” she said slowly, “then you’ll pay the price for them?”

He nodded, now turning to look at her.

“Even if it’s not officially on the books, it’s fine with me,” he said. “Like I said, the matter is urgent. I don’t know when and where I might find someone else with this particular flower. I don’t have very long.”

Frowning, she looked down at the seeds in her hand.

“It’ll take a few months for these to grow,” she told him. “If I sell you the flower in the window today, then there won’t be another for a long time.”

The man’s shoulders drooped in disappointment.

“If you give me two days, though,” she said, “I can root another plant from the one I have here. With luck, that will help me get a supply of them going sooner than if I were to sell you this full blossom and then start from scratch again.”

His shoulders perked back up. She hadn’t noticed it before, but his expression had been rather tense, and it was now relaxing. He seemed to be contemplating something. She waited for his verdict. He shifted his eyes back over to the flower and then gave a slight nod.

“I suppose I have no choice aside from trusting the florist herself,” he said. “Two days, then? And then I’ll return to pay for the flower.”

She nodded.

“I will do my best to get a stock going,” she said. “If it’s that important to you.”

An awkward silence formed between the two. She couldn’t explain why she was letting herself get wrapped up in his barter. Hadn’t she prided herself on her low prices? This was taking things too far, in her mind, but she couldn’t bring herself to refuse his request. There was something desperate glinting in his dark eyes; something that hinted at a grave issue arising should he not acquire the flower. He smiled and nodded at her.

“I’ll see you then, then,” he said, bowing slightly.

As he turned to walk out of the door, she hurried over and grasped the sleeve of his jacket. He turned back to her, his eyes looking a bit worried or nervous. She couldn’t really tell which it was. She let go suddenly, worried that she might have upset him. He straightened up and waited for her to speak.

“Could I trouble you for your name?” she asked.

He blinked at her.

“My name’s Shigemura Yuuna,” she said.

He nodded politely.

“Nochizawa Eiji,” he said. “A pleasure to be doing business with you, Miss Shigemura.”

She nodded back.

“L-likewise,” she stammered.

He turned back to the door and left. If she wasn’t mistaken, there had been a hint of a smile as he’d turned around. Her heart fluttered. When he smiled, he was gentle-looking and quite handsome. She watched him as he walked down the street, heading away from the main city center. From behind, she felt something hard bump into the small of her back, breaking her gaze away from him. She whirled around and made a face at the cause of the disturbance.

“Whatcha staring at?”

She frowned.

“Just a peculiar jacket,” she mumbled. “Aren’t you supposed to be training Eugeo, Kirito?”

Her employee grinned at her and then pointed the object in his hand, a broom, towards the man walking away.

“I saw the look on your face,” he said. “You think he’s hot.”

Yuuna’s mouth dropped open in shock.

“I…I do not!” she said, trying to sound more assertive than usual. “Go back to your station and train him! I won’t ask again!”

Kirito chuckled at her and threw one hand up in defeat. He picked up his broom and headed back over to where Eugeo was, ready to help him learn something new. Yuuna let out her breath and turned to the next customer who entered as thoughts raced in her mind. She did her best to focus on her customer service, but her mind kept wandering.

Who was Nochizawa Eiji? Why did he need the pneuma flower so badly?

And why was that smile she thought she’d seen so…gentle?


	2. A Droplet of Water to Quench the Flames

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Short update! It was one of those chapters where it just didn't work out being lengthy, so I finally am caving to post it. Hopefully the next chapter works out to be a little longer!

Fire. That’s what it felt like. Fire.

There was a desire in his soul that constantly burned away at his exterior, making him break out into a sweat as he hoped that the burns wouldn’t be permanent. The longer he searched, the more intense the heat became. He felt the flames licking at his bones, drying them out until they started to creak under the weight of his burden. At this rate, it wouldn’t be much longer until his skin started to turn to ash, being fully consumed by the conflagration that followed him wherever he went.

Thus was the emotional state of Nochizawa Eiji. How many years had he felt like this? He found it pointless to count. All he knew was that if he didn’t get his hands on a supply of the pneuma flower, he was going to go mad. The girl at the shop, Yuuna, couldn’t possibly know the extent of its importance to him, but he could tell that she’d seen the desperation in his eyes. Just a few more days. He could handle that.

He staggered into his house and stopped to gaze at his own tired eyes in the mirror by the front door. With a sigh, he made his way into the dining room where he kept a calendar hanging on the wall. He flipped it up to see the next month. The next full moon would occur within the first few days of the new month; it was around five weeks away. He needed the flower before each full moon rose. And he needed time to prepare the flower properly to be consumed. He pulled his hand away from the wall and pressed it to his right cheek.

“She won’t make it in time,” he muttered. “I’ll have to suffer again next month.”

With a sigh, he sank down into one of the chairs closest to him. He was so close. So close to freedom that he could taste it. It was like a droplet of water on his parched tongue—a small teasing of the relief that was yet to come. She was at least going to try and get the flowers for him. A young florist who had no idea what kind of valuable flower sat in her shop window was doing her best just for him, a complete stranger who likely sounded like a madman.

How had she come across one when he’d been searching for years? He was too scared to ask. It was the sort of rare thing that cost quite a fortune, so either she or her seller had been unaware of its true worth, or the girl was spectacularly loaded. Well, she had said it was a rare and expensive flower—the latter was likely true. Whoever she’d purchased it from was likely reveling in his big sale. He’d spent most of his life saving up to pay for the flower when the time came. Yuuna would soon get a taste of that fortune.

Two days, she’d said. She wouldn’t have a stock of flowers ready for him that soon, but he would get to take at least one flower home. He would have a single month spared likely, since she needed the flower in the shop to root the others. A full blossom might be able to make two to three doses if he measured properly.

He leaned over the table to an old, tattered book sitting there. The recipe for the temporary antidote faced him, faded and worn with time. He’d found this book at an oddities shop, one that leaned more into the occult than he was particularly fond of. The only reason he’d entered the shop was because he’d caught a whiff of a scent that was irritatingly familiar but slightly different. When he’d trailed inside, this book had called out to him. It was filled with odd remedies of the supernatural sort. He’d wanted to put it down until he flipped open to a picture of the pneuma flower.

The flower’s supposed properties provided an answer he hadn’t originally known he’d find. So long he’d searched for a solution to his problem. Finding it in a strange place was the least of his concerns. He paid the price to take home the book, and he’d pay the price to acquire the ingredients. Of the list, the pneuma flower was the most expensive and the hardest to find. Now that he’d found one and would soon have access to others, he’d just need to keep a steady supply of his ingredients. He traced a finger down the page.

According to the book, this flower changed colors in the moonlight based on which phase of the moon appeared. The color that changed wasn’t from the petals themselves, but it was rather from a faint glow that they gave off only in the dark. It was given its name because of this glow; the Ancient Greeks saw the glowing petals and thought that the flower had a soul and chose to name the flower “pneuma” accordingly. No matter what it was called, though, Eiji knew that the flower’s medicinal uses claimed to “restore the human soul to its proper form.”

In other words, it was an antidote for any form of a curse. The modern world didn’t believe in curses, but Eiji knew better than to presume anything. His own body was supernatural according to leading scientists. He knew the truth better than anyone: even if there was a science behind it or even if it was physically possible in this modern world of logic and bare facts, the things that humans once considered supernatural were still just as real as were atoms and other planets. To the ancients, his condition was a curse—not a fact of science. So, in order to break that curse (or at least alleviate its symptoms) he needed to take an antidote.

He would acquire these flowers from Yuuna. He would combine these ingredients exactly as the book told him. He would take the antidote at the directed times.

“And then I’ll never be a monster again…” he muttered.


End file.
